So yesterday my energy supplier First Utility debited £320 from account which they claim was the outstanding balance of my last house.

I have what I believe is the final bill based on meter readings I gave over 09/14-09/15. This bill was issued in 11/15 and paid in 01/16.

But now they have reissued a new bill for the same dates, all based in estimated readings and charged me.

I’m both pissed off and concerned.

I have no evidence that I gave the final meter reading accurately so is it my word against theirs?

I’ve already asked the bank to give the money back as First Utility didn’t post/email a bill so under the Direct debit guarantee they have to pay me back.

Has anyone had any similar experiences?

Did got regularly submit readings before moving. If you can show that your Fingask reading gave usage in line with past readings they’d have to have a good reason to up it.

Occasionally this comes about also if the new occupiers dispute the stat reading. Was it a rented property or owned. Did you lodge the reading with landlord or solicitor?

Have you spoken to them to find out why they have changed the reading?

Bit late now but you should have taken photos and/or insisted on a visit. I would challenge based on your readings and ask new property owner if you can visit to read now to compare with their estimates. All a bit difocult given its 6 months ago. They cannot do this on an estimate imo – thats unreasonable

If you called them up to give the readings then they will have a copy of that call by law.
Get them to listen back to it and go from there.
Also – as above – owned or rented?
If rented there will be evidence of the readings on checkout as its also a legal requirement.

Been through a fight once with our energy company once that tried to bill us 8000EUR (not uk) because they ignored our calls telling them the meter wasn’t working and then decided to ‘fine’ us by using a ridiculously high rate. Lawyers and ombudmen were involved and it got resolved in the end. However you shouldn’t really need to go that far

As far as I remember the ombudsman won’t get involved until you have followed the complaints process of the energy company so the first step is to phone them and find out what that is. After that it is just a case of going through it all step by step. Make sure at all points that you keep of record of when you call, who you talk to and any decisions made at the point

They may just have made a mistake but until you talk to them they might not even know so although it’s painful you just have to start that process and keep a record of the process. Remember even if on your first call someone says ‘oops, we’ll fix it’ to take their name and the time for when you discover it isn’t actually fixed.

Good luck and it may actually get resolved easily

I used to sort out disputed never readings in a previous life. They should have a desire of readings up to your final one which will give a pattern of your usage, and a start reading from the new occupier and reading the to establish their usage. Then you can use those to guesstimate whether your final readings fit the pattern and should be accepted as accurate.

Problems get worse if their has been a change of meter that hasn’t been recorded. Or if someone broke into the house and used it as a cannabis factory after you left. Seriously.

So after another protracted conversation with First Utility I’m still confused… and I didn’t record this conversation :/

We owned the house in question, sold on the 29/10/15 with final metre reading submitted of 9013.

The new owners or their tenants then submitted their reading including a photo to First Utility giving a vastly different reading of ~10523 on 07/11/15.

What Marie stated tonight was that all my meter readings from 09/14-09/15 had been rejected. These had been submitted on their app. She said I hadn’t entered the correct amount of digits (5), but the app only allows a 4 digit entry!?

I’m confused and not having any evidence supporting my cause fear I’ll have to pay up.

Mixed up gas and electric?

I don’t think there was a mix up with gas and electric.

Could someone also explain the difference between a customer and routine meter reading?